In all of my years of collecting and listening to Tomita’s music, I would have never guessed that Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson were personal fans of his. RIP Isao Tomita. I still enjoy listening to The Planets!
Hmm. I think I have that very vinyl of 'The Planets". Lucky me! Thank you very much for this program on Tomita. My piano teacher introduced me to both him and Wendy Carlos. They blew my mind with their artistry.
This was quite a fascinating lesson! I stumbled upon Tomita's rendition of 'The Planets' by random chance in my later years of high school (in the relatively early days of UA-cam), when I was going through my stage of being endlessly fascinated space, including the original 'Planets' music by Holst! I downloaded it from iTunes when I hit college, and I've continued to play it in my music collection ever since! So I feel very lucky to have had this chance to learn about the synthesizer artist behind it! I'm glad I stumbled upon your channel!
My late friend Chris and I read on the bus heading for college in 1976 that Imogen Holst had nixed "The Planets". We pooled our small change and bought the last vinyl copy in the shop on the way home that day before they were removed from shelves nationwide. On the flip of a coin, Chris got to keep the vinyl copy and I took a cassette copy on my Mum's hi-fi! Happy days.
*i was raised on classical and opera so i naturally gravitated towards the more unique and stylistically brilliant variants of early electronic composers of which Tomita was near the top along with Vangelis and Jarre'...all brilliant*
Thank you, thank you, thank you !!! I love Tomita and I really enjoyed hearing your story of his musical life. I absolutely love Clair de Lune. The "take off" slide at the very end always makes me feel as if my soul were flowing up into deep space. Again, thank you. Im sending this video to a good friend . Im turning him on to Tomita with Clair de Lune.
Through UA-cam, I heard The Tale of Genji. That sounded like a novel Japanese style composition of his. Not electronic. The most appealing thing with his electronic records was when he could reimagine a piece, because he didn't compose. I think the Firebird & Daphnis and Chloe suites were his best efforts. I used to like "The Bermuda Triangle" but didn't enjoy it at all, last time I heard it. I felt unwell. It is nearly all bizarre arrangements of Prokofiev (including a great isolation of a symphonic melody in "dawn at bermuda") but it has one original, atmospheric, electronic piece called "the earth: a hollow vessel". The track titles on that album are bizarre. The penultimate is called "The Harp Being Played By The Ancient People And The Venus And Her Space Children Singing The Song Of The Future", a.k.a. an excerpt from one of Prokofiev's violin concertos (I think). I think his first digital recording was his (bizarre choice to do) Grand Canyon Suite (Grofe), recorded 1981, released 1982. But I think it also had analog synths because it included his trademark sounds (gone from records thereafter, except for his one-off album, Bach Fantasy, 1996, which included a re-release of his earlier piece, "sea called solaris", a religious theme by Bach that was used in Tarkovsky's Solaris film and that Tomita used as part of a Bach medley. I've written 10 lines when I intended to write 10 words. Goodnite.
Thanks for producing this detailed and very informative video. It might be of interest to do an additional video on his 'Sound Creature' double album, in which he demonstrates the methods and techniques he used to produce some of his sounds, like having a leslie-like speaker arrangement where he miked a speaker physically rotating on a turntable. The details are all explained in a booklet included with the vinyl records... only issue being that the recording was only available in a Japanese pressing, with all the written explanations in Japanese.
That's an interesting idea, but I'm reticent to cover it; I don't speak or read any Japanese, and translation software isn't advanced enough for me to trust its output in a way that would allow me to go into the depth that I would like.
Snowflakes Are Dancing had at least one polyphonic instrument on it, I believe: the Mellotron (=tape-based proto-sampler) of Beatles, Moody Blues, King Crimson, Genesis, Yes,... fame
Nitay Arbel - I hadn’t remembered seeing, “Mellotron,” on the equipment list for Tomita’s first album so I pulled the LP out of my record-case and am now looking at it. Sure enough at the extensive list of equipment (multiple Moog components, five tape-recorders, four mixers, an echo-unit, phaser, two Ecorecs, and a Fender Dimension IV) is the lone mellotron.
I got so excited when I saw this!! Thank you classical nerd! I learned so much about tomita, I'm so glad I bought the planets vinyl & found out about him
I had the privilege of corresponding with Tomita after he did his concert in the UK. I worked for EMi and told him he should release his album The Tale Of Genji in the Uk and he sent me a pre-release copy which I sent to our Classic department. They, being the stupid people they were turned it down. The copy I still have is actually a different copy from which was actually released as he wrote a different ending section.
Speaking of Asian composers, could you make a video about Isang Yun please? I think you should also make a video about conductors like Herbert von Karajan.
Thank you for this history. Tomita's musical achievements are sorely under-recognized. Your video helps to correct this and bring honor to his legacy.
In all of my years of collecting and listening to Tomita’s music, I would have never guessed that Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson were personal fans of his. RIP Isao Tomita. I still enjoy listening to The Planets!
Hmm. I think I have that very vinyl of 'The Planets". Lucky me! Thank you very much for this program on Tomita. My piano teacher introduced me to both him and Wendy Carlos. They blew my mind with their artistry.
Ive said this on other videos about Tomita. He really had an ear for creating soundscapes
This was quite a fascinating lesson! I stumbled upon Tomita's rendition of 'The Planets' by random chance in my later years of high school (in the relatively early days of UA-cam), when I was going through my stage of being endlessly fascinated space, including the original 'Planets' music by Holst! I downloaded it from iTunes when I hit college, and I've continued to play it in my music collection ever since!
So I feel very lucky to have had this chance to learn about the synthesizer artist behind it! I'm glad I stumbled upon your channel!
MY HERO The reason I got into synthesizers the true pioneer of electronic music RIP Isao
I love his interpretation of Clair De Lune! Was one of my first CDs (Snowflakes)....Breathtaking musical genius and beauty.
My late friend Chris and I read on the bus heading for college in 1976 that Imogen Holst had nixed "The Planets". We pooled our small change and bought the last vinyl copy in the shop on the way home that day before they were removed from shelves nationwide. On the flip of a coin, Chris got to keep the vinyl copy and I took a cassette copy on my Mum's hi-fi! Happy days.
*i was raised on classical and opera so i naturally gravitated towards the more unique and stylistically brilliant variants of early electronic composers of which Tomita was near the top along with Vangelis and Jarre'...all brilliant*
Thank you, thank you, thank you !!! I love Tomita and I really enjoyed hearing your story of his musical life. I absolutely love Clair de Lune. The "take off" slide at the very end always makes me feel as if my soul were flowing up into deep space. Again, thank you. Im sending this video to a good friend . Im turning him on to Tomita with Clair de Lune.
Honestly, your channel is so underrated! I love your videos, keep it up dude :3
First class! Excellent succinct biography of Tomita
Just passing through. I saw this looking for a Tomita track. A lot of info I didn't know about.
Great info. One of the best UA-cam channel. Thanks
Through UA-cam, I heard The Tale of Genji. That sounded like a novel Japanese style composition of his. Not electronic. The most appealing thing with his electronic records was when he could reimagine a piece, because he didn't compose. I think the Firebird & Daphnis and Chloe suites were his best efforts. I used to like "The Bermuda Triangle" but didn't enjoy it at all, last time I heard it. I felt unwell. It is nearly all bizarre arrangements of Prokofiev (including a great isolation of a symphonic melody in "dawn at bermuda") but it has one original, atmospheric, electronic piece called "the earth: a hollow vessel". The track titles on that album are bizarre. The penultimate is called "The Harp Being Played By The Ancient People And The Venus And Her Space Children Singing The Song Of The Future", a.k.a. an excerpt from one of Prokofiev's violin concertos (I think). I think his first digital recording was his (bizarre choice to do) Grand Canyon Suite (Grofe), recorded 1981, released 1982. But I think it also had analog synths because it included his trademark sounds (gone from records thereafter, except for his one-off album, Bach Fantasy, 1996, which included a re-release of his earlier piece, "sea called solaris", a religious theme by Bach that was used in Tarkovsky's Solaris film and that Tomita used as part of a Bach medley. I've written 10 lines when I intended to write 10 words. Goodnite.
Thanks for producing this detailed and very informative video. It might be of interest to do an additional video on his 'Sound Creature' double album, in which he demonstrates the methods and techniques he used to produce some of his sounds, like having a leslie-like speaker arrangement where he miked a speaker physically rotating on a turntable. The details are all explained in a booklet included with the vinyl records... only issue being that the recording was only available in a Japanese pressing, with all the written explanations in Japanese.
That's an interesting idea, but I'm reticent to cover it; I don't speak or read any Japanese, and translation software isn't advanced enough for me to trust its output in a way that would allow me to go into the depth that I would like.
criminally underviewed video - nice upload
Snowflakes Are Dancing had at least one polyphonic instrument on it, I believe: the Mellotron (=tape-based proto-sampler) of Beatles, Moody Blues, King Crimson, Genesis, Yes,... fame
Nitay Arbel - I hadn’t remembered seeing, “Mellotron,” on the equipment list for Tomita’s first album so I pulled the LP out of my record-case and am now looking at it. Sure enough at the extensive list of equipment (multiple Moog components, five tape-recorders, four mixers, an echo-unit, phaser, two Ecorecs, and a Fender Dimension IV) is the lone mellotron.
I got so excited when I saw this!! Thank you classical nerd! I learned so much about tomita, I'm so glad I bought the planets vinyl & found out about him
Thanx, Thomas🌹🌹🌹
Thank you for making this!
Really enjoyed this, thank you!
I had the privilege of corresponding with Tomita after he did his concert in the UK. I worked for EMi and told him he should release his album The Tale Of Genji in the Uk and he sent me a pre-release copy which I sent to our Classic department. They, being the stupid people they were turned it down. The copy I still have is actually a different copy from which was actually released as he wrote a different ending section.
Great installment.
Speaking of Asian composers, could you make a video about Isang Yun please? I think you should also make a video about conductors like Herbert von Karajan.
They're now in the request pool.
Hola excelente video, podrías incluir subtitulos en español?, muchas gracias un abrazo desde Chile
I don't speak Spanish and there's no one I know who has volunteered to translate/subtitle my work ...
love it!!
Oscillator was used by the radiophonic workshop they had 6
Isao Tomita (ee-SOW to-MEE-ta)
Please make one of these videos about Bizet! I love your channel btw!!
This is the third Bizet request I've gotten, and with each one, he moves up in the request pool!
Published on Robby burns day
That's true 'Monophonic' In those days.
og soundcloud
dla poszukiwaczy ambitnych eksperymentów proponuję moje L'opery - quasi opery czysto elektroniczne, grane raz i bez korekt
Carlos and Subotnick?
I do not cover living composers because their careers are ongoing, making it impossible to do a true retrospective.
My bad on the latter
WOAH X"D DIDN'T EXPECT YOU TO EVEN MENTION HATSUNE MIKU X"D I AM NOT DISAPPOINTED
What about aphex twin?
I don't cover living musicians in the "Great Composers" series on account of that their careers are ongoing and retrospectives thus impossible.
Classical Nerd Ok that makes sense, sorry I'm just new to the series.
Then what about John Coltrane?
Coltrane has been added to the request pool!
0:49 Japan surrendered in 1945.
Just listen to Claire de lune